I was asked this question yesterday by a young writer.

I dislike this question because I feel like I don’t have an adequate answer. The answer is that I just write.

See. Very unsatisfying.

I’m a spur of the moment writer. I don’t plan much. Don’t do much outlining, but, and I think this is probably the key for me, I do a lot of simmering.

What do I mean by simmering?

When a novel is about ready to be written, I have noticed a pattern:

First, get an idea. Possibly write down the idea and a few related items so I don’t forget them.

Second. Think. This is the simmering stage. Everyday, something will trigger thoughts of the novel and I’ll just think about it some more. I don’t write anything down. Just think. This simmering stage can go on for a long time. A very long time. For example, my yet-to-be-written fourth novel has been simmering for about 15 months. I even know the title, the plot, the characters, the action. I don’t know the resolution. Here’s what I’ve actually written down about this novel so far:

Summer of 2012, I got the idea. I decided it was going to be set on a fictional island in the Pacific. I wrote out an extensive demographic and historical background of the island including languages, GDP, etc… That became the basis of my simmering.

I know the four main characters and what is going to happen. So all of this has just been sitting there in the back of my head all these months. Every once in a while, I get a trigger which will bring me back to the island and give me a new idea. About two months ago I sat down and wrote the first chapter. That gave me some more tangible details to simmer on. This simmering has been happening almost daily for those two months.

I must say, that the stew is almost ready. I just need to write it. And this requires only one thing: TIME.

From experience, I know that when I sit down to write, everything will flow rather smoothly because of the extensive thought that I’ve put into it.

So, no, I won’t outline the whole story, but the story will write itself out of my tasty and long-simmering writing stew.

That’s how I do it. What about you?